1992: British and French Responses Compared

Abstract

When questioning the consequences of Single Financial Market negotiations on the shape and patterns of sectoral policy networks, two sets of characteristics must be reviewed. Firstly, those related to the participating organizations themselves: their number, resources, interests and internal cohesiveness could all have been affected in the process of 1992 discussions. Secondly, the characteristics of the network proper, that is patterns of interorganizational connections: did national interest groups proceed independently in their monitoring of Single Market information, or did they establish interconnections to ‘reduce the complexity’ of this information (Coleman, 1988, p.53)? Were state-business relationships transformed throughout the period as a result of Community policy-making? Patterns of organizational involvement, associational interactions and state-interest groups relationships are reviewed in the first three sections. Indices and maps of organizational interactions are then computed to try and provide further comparative insights. A last section summarizes the findings, and outlines some of the dynamics of network change.